100% normal
Rough idle
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Drifting
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,352
Likes: 716
From: Terrell North Carolina
460 HP is not likely to have a perfect smooth idle, I am amazed the cars today with the power they have is amazing they idle as smooth as they do. I can tell from your comments you never had a high horsepower car from the 70's. They would idle at maybe 1000 rpms & shake the ground they were sitting. It is normal for it to have a little bump at idle. You need to sit a new Z06, they even have more of a idle bump.
Intermediate
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 25
Likes: 3
From: Texas
Even at 460 HP they would idle smooth if not programmed otherwise. It's a design feature to give the illusion that it has a "lope" like a radical cam creates. Apparently GM decided that's what Corvette drivers like, but I could live without it as it always seems something is wrong to me!
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 389
Likes: 128
From: Santa Maria CA
460 HP is not likely to have a perfect smooth idle, I am amazed the cars today with the power they have is amazing they idle as smooth as they do. I can tell from your comments you never had a high horsepower car from the 70's. They would idle at maybe 1000 rpms & shake the ground they were sitting. It is normal for it to have a little bump at idle. You need to sit a new Z06, they even have more of a idle bump.
E-Ray, 3LZ, ZER, LIFT
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 34,937
Likes: 12,351
From: NE South Carolina
Comes with 460 hp and keeping pollution low at idle! I'm surprised it's as good as it is! A Duntov cam in a 300 hp '50's/'60's small block Chevy was much loopier!
Last edited by JerryU; Feb 2, 2017 at 02:02 AM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 2,012
Likes: 955
From: Central Commiefornia
Actually, I've owned and restored a 1964 Chevelle SS, a 1966 Buick GS vert, a 1966 Buick GS hard top, and a 1972 Mercedes 300SEL 6.3. All ran smoother at idle than my 2017 GS. My 1996 C4 and 2007 C6 both feel smoother at idle than my 2017 C7 GS. A car this sophisticated and expensive I expected to be a bit smoother at idle. As a design feature, I get it, but it just kinda feels to me like it has a miss. I'm glad it's not.
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,960
Likes: 1,106
In general most direct injected engines seem to have a little rougher idle than their port injected counterparts. Lexus uses combined port plus direct injection in some configurations and this provides a smooth idle for them. I haven't looked that closely at the new ZR-1 powerplant to see if its port injection is active at low RPM/low load conditions or if port injection is only used at higher load to supply the needed fuel but I expect GM will be using this combination on future luxury engines before the internal combustion engine comes to the end of the road.
The smoothest idling vehicle I currently own is a GMC Sierra pickup with a 6.6L turbo diesel and its idle is much smoother than the 3.6L DI in my Cadillac ATS and the LT-4 in my Z06.
The smoothest idling vehicle I currently own is a GMC Sierra pickup with a 6.6L turbo diesel and its idle is much smoother than the 3.6L DI in my Cadillac ATS and the LT-4 in my Z06.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2017
Posts: 883
Likes: 407
I like a little lope in the idle of an American sports / muscle car. In my opinion, it's a distinctly American sound in the same way that a turbo whistle is to a Japanese car or a flat plane crank scream in an Italian car. It tells the driver and people nearby that this car has some power!
